Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1887-02-05
An Industrious Man Accused of Being
Lazy Boldly and Emphatically Re-
flutes the Charge.

flutes the Charge.
Judge.
1t is slyly whispered around the
globe that am lazy. Bless your soul,
l haven't got lazy bone in my UNI
brella. have no distaste for work
it is one of my delights to sit and read
about all kinds of work, and you
have no idea how much exercise it is
and what an appetite it gives me for
dinner; and if you would see me eat
you would not think there was any
laziness about me. My landlady says
/ work harder at the table than any
of the rest of the boarders. There is
not a minute in the twenty-four hours
that l am not doing something,
breathing or something else. You
never catch me sitting down and
quitting breathing for an hour or two
like some people want to. / am too
industrious for that.
maintain that work lis the most
ennobling of all avocations, and al
ways keep telling them so. When /
have man working for me it never
makes me tired, no matter how hard
he works; he might work himself to
death and you never hear me COM
planning. Why, when 1 was young
and followed a trade for exercise, my
boss used to say that could put off
more work than any other hand he
had; he said / was always putting it
off, and yetitnever seemed to exhaust
me much. No matter how hot it is,
I can roll up my sleeves and pitch in
and rest harder than almost anybody
else, and you don't hear me grunting,
like some.
Talk about me doing no work!
Look at a single instance. Is it not
the very hardest work in this world
for me to pay my bills? Don't il
make me sweat? You have no. idea
\ how much / weigh when I get Aset
down in chair, and j rather Ike
those avocations which requiresitting
down to do, l have sat half the night
working at whist, and l have always
thought that, above all other trades
I would like to be a shoemaker or 6
tailor, especially in dull times. ]
could accomplish the sitting part and
not half try. If had to work every
week from Saturday night till Sun
day morning, 1 would not run arount
making fuss about it and acting
ridiculous.
/ was never tired to death in all my
life, and have witnesses to prove it
Ever since started out for myself
have been most industriously engaged
in growing, and very few men hav'
made better job oft 1 always ge
up when the sun is up and 60 to be-
when it is down, and am dreadful,
opposed to sleeping ali the time.
never run away from work. Yol
+ ought to see me sitting around wher
the carpenters are putting up a new
building; and they say I seem t
, know more about the work than the,
do themselves, and they are goo
, workmen. firmly believe every
body ought to do something, or Sc
that it is done, and toll is honest an
honorable for some people.
Il My father never had any troubl
about getting me to work, like som
fathers have, because whenever b
: wanted to do anything right quick h
: always asked my brother John to d
it, and / saw that it was done. Som
i boys would 60 bowling around abor
o it, and l never did; and especial
y when there was wood to saw 1 Away
u was there with a bacon rind to grea:
Il Johns saw, my father used to sa
y that he never saw boy who coul
d swing scythe farther away than
J could. I was raised on a farm, an
p certainly that is aplace where lazine
% can never thrive. left home wit
o out cent in my pocket, and mao
y my own way, though I was boz
without an education. My teach,
IL always said that ! worked hard ov
1t my studies; if / would only get dow
ID to the studies; and no scholars ev
h got ahead of me without they g
1t above me.
y Work! why, 1 like even to lab
a under q mistake or Authorization.
a. love the very money that q workin
r. man gets. l have not hesitated
e. seize the plebeian handles Of a whet
'e barrow and go along the streets wi
st Simpson in it, just after. election.
he even work like smoke to get out
Il. work. My mother used to think
10 ,uoc NJ o,,o. pot,o;yovoa ~. thu nt,fss